• by Wayne Friedman , November 5, 2013

More of DirecTV's customers are spending more per month --- and that has lifted overall revenue in the U.S. As of the third quarter of this year, the average DirecTV customer now spends $102.37 a month -- up from $96.41 a year ago, for a 6.2% gain.

DirecTV says it posted higher numbers due to higher advanced receiver service fees, price increases on programming packages, and higher fees for a new enhanced warranty program, as well as higher pay-per-view revenues.

As a result, the big satellite TV channel distributor has seen a 7% increase in revenues to $6.17 billion for the period, with net income 24% higher to $699 million.

The number of subscribers in the U.S. grew by 139,000. One analyst believes that DirecTV benefited from the problems that Time Warner and CBS experienced during their month-long blackout of CBS networks.

DirecTV’s  “churn” rate -- essentially losing customers each period -- was at a six-year low of 1.61%. DirecTV had good comparisons here. A year ago, it was unfavorably impacted by a major dispute with a large programmer that resulted in many channels being removed for nine days.

In the U.S., it now has 20.16 million subscribers, with a worldwide total of 37 million. DirecTV continues to add a substantial number of new customers from two of its Latin America businesses -- Sky Brasil and PanAmericana -- which added 260,000 net new customers. Subscribers from Latin America and Mexico are now at 17 million. Revenue in Latin America grew 5% to $1.66 billion .